The last couple of months have been a whirlwind!
While the challenges have been many for us—we are so thankful for God’s unending faithfulness and tender loving care. We are thankful to see all that He is doing in this nation, and are looking forward to all the good things He will continue to do!
We have partnered with an organization to distribute Bibles and follow-up with those who have received them. We essentially offer a service to help study the Bible together, and hopefully, answer some of the recipient’s questions as they arise— it’s proving to be in a season of fruitfulness.
In the last few months, two people we have followed up with have put their faith in Christ, choosing to follow Him.
Not too long ago, Dave met with ‘O’—one of these new believers. ‘O’ was an atheist and a teacher of philosophy. Yet his request to the organization was to send him everything they had on Jesus. Not just a pamphlet, not just one gospel, not just the New Testament. ALL. OF. IT.
Several months previously, a student of his had had a dream. In his dream, Jesus was being nailed to the cross and He was dying. Waking up, he noticed red marks on his hands. Shocked, he sought out his philosophy teacher ‘O’ – for help.
‘O’ had a New Testament that they quickly started reading—together they tried to find a church in hopes that someone could help them. By the time ‘O’ reached out to our organization, he had made his way through the New Testament. When Dave met with him for tea and study, he said he believed Jesus was the Son of God, had put his faith in Him, and was ready to be baptized!
Erin is part of an outreach/mobilization team here. They have been running both online and in-person courses throughout the year. She was thrilled to facilitate a course in the southern part of our country, in person, early this summer. The response has been excellent and courses have been started in multiple languages—including beginning translation into the language of the people here. We are thankful for how God has been using these courses in our nation and the Middle East.
Our friend, once again, invited us to her ancestral village out East. As usual, it was an incredible trip! Full of good food, company, and stunning views. We were shocked at how many people remembered us from our last visit, we often came back to our friend’s home with people from the village waiting to visit with us. The doors were wide open, and it was wonderful to share Jesus, praying for people.
We are finding that our life here among our neighbors is proving to be fruitful as well.
Most evenings this last summer there was either a knock on our door or a phone call for ‘Uncle David and little J’ to come play futbol (soccer) and they were more than happy to oblige!
A couple of (young adult) brothers, that they play futbol matches with—lost their father this August. He was well known, and the whole family is much loved in our complex. Our hearts were so broken for them. Erin ended up baking dozens and dozens of cookies to bring over to them. We sat and wept with the family.
The next morning when she walked outside many ladies were happy to greet her: “We’ve tasted your foreign cookies and we want your recipe! Show us how to cook your food and we will show you how to make ours. Thank you so much for bringing them to our friend in her time of grief.”
We do have some continued prayer requests:
1. The anointing of the Holy Spirit as we share both our testimonies and the gospel. Please pray for hearts to be softened and eyes opened to the good news of Jesus Christ.
2. The new believers ‘O’ and ‘Z’, especially ‘O’ as he wants to be baptized soon.
3. God’s hand of protection over our family, especially in this season. We have had an especially rough patch—health-wise. Erin has had two surgeries and Covid this year, Jackson had one arm in a sling and the other in a cast this fall.
4. Our landlord has put our apartment up for sale. We don’t want to move, especially as it seems that the doors are so open where we are. Another hurdle is that the rental market is also in short supply right now. We are praying for a miracle in this situation.
5. Erin and J’s residency permits are up for renewal this month. Please pray for favour.
6. J has a genetic heart defect and will need to do extra testing this month or next, possibly involving a couple of days in the hospital. Please pray for healing and peace for J—wisdom for the doctors and our family. We are so thankful for how the Lord has sustained us, as we face this challenge in particular. We are thankful that J’s condition is stable enough, that he is able to continue playing sports, etc.
Many blessings to you and yours!
Lots of love,
